The RIESE model defines five distinct ways your AI assistant interacts with users. Each pillar represents a different intent — from answering a straightforward question to escalating a complex issue to a human agent. Understanding these pillars helps you organize your knowledge base and configure your assistant to handle each scenario appropriately.
The Five Pillars
Resolve
The assistant directly solves the user's problem with a definitive answer. This is the ideal outcome — the user gets what they need without any human involvement.
Example: "How do I reset my password?" → The assistant provides step-by-step reset instructions from the knowledge base.
Inform
The assistant provides factual information or context that helps the user make a decision. The response educates rather than solves.
Example: "What are the office hours for the permits department?" → The assistant returns the hours, location, and contact details.
Engage
The assistant enters a multi-turn conversation to clarify the user's needs, gather required details, or guide them through a process.
Example: "I need to apply for a building permit" → The assistant asks about the project type, location, and scope to determine which forms and requirements apply.
Support
The assistant provides ongoing assistance for complex workflows that span multiple steps or require follow-up. This goes beyond a single answer to provide guided support.
Example: "Walk me through preparing my grant application" → The assistant helps the user gather documents, fill in sections, and check eligibility requirements across multiple messages.
Escalate
The assistant recognizes that it cannot adequately handle the request — due to low confidence, policy restrictions, or the nature of the question — and routes it to a human agent.
Example: "I want to file a formal complaint about my neighbor's construction" → The assistant creates a support ticket and connects the user to the appropriate department.
RIESE and Knowledge Packs
Each pillar maps naturally to how you organize content in knowledge packs:
| Pillar | Knowledge pack strategy |
|---|---|
| Resolve | Direct Q&A pairs with clear, complete answers |
| Inform | Reference documents, policies, and factual datasets |
| Engage | Guided workflows with decision-tree Q&A pairs |
| Support | Detailed process documentation with step-by-step chunks |
| Escalate | Configured through escalation rules, not knowledge content |
Escalation is not a failure — it is a designed outcome. A well-configured assistant knows its limits and hands off gracefully when human judgment is needed.
Next Steps
- Knowledge Management — learn how to curate and organize content for each RIESE pillar
- Confidence & Escalation — configure when the assistant escalates to humans
- Knowledge Packs — create and manage content collections